Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport

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Howard Zinn’s powerful multimedia event, The People Speak premieres this Sunday, December 13th, on the History Channel. The series draws on the experiences of scores of ordinary Americans, and is based on Howard Zinn’s hugely influential books, A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States. A cavalcade of artists perform excerpts from diaries, speeches, letters and personal histories, bringing inspiring first hand accounts of our nation’s past to life.

My friend Eliza reads her program during a free performance of The People Speak at San Francisco State University on my birthday earlier this month.

Empowering Youth to Create Their Own History

To help get young people excited about history, The People Speak has been making the rounds at colleges across the country, and recently made a stop here in San Francisco. Moving clips from the upcoming series were shown; Rich Robinson performed Bob Dylan’s “Only a Pawn in Their Game“, about the assassination of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in June 1963. Lupe Fiasco was supposed to read a speech by Muhammad Ali speaking out against the Vietnam War, but Fiasco called in sick. The Dean of the Ethnic Studies department, Kenneth Monteiro spoke with Robinson and co-producer Anthony Arnove about how The People Speak came into being, and where it may be headed in the future.

Monteiro, Robinson and Arnove discuss history and take questions from the audience.

The mostly student audience was very diverse, and many of the probing questions they asked related to how we all can reflect our own experiences, and have a positive impact in shaping our nation’s history. One of my personal favorite moments from the performance was when I yelled out to correct Arnove when he got the date wrong for when women were finally allowed to vote in the United States. He said it was 1910, instead of the actual date, 1920. As a former teacher, one of the most exciting aspects of this multimedia project is the creation of vast resources and free teaching materials for educators.

Did you know that Matt Damon grew up next door to Howard Zinn?

To find out more about The People Speak and Voices, to obtain a free curriculum for teachers using the books Voices of a People’s History of the United States and A People’s History of the United States, and the film The People Speak, to arrange a performance or workshop in your school or community, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please contact:

Voices of a People’s History of the United States

E-mail: peopleshistory[at]mac.com

http://www.peopleshistory.us

This is why I know that women got the right to vote in 1920.